May 1^st is a day that signifies many things, most notably May Day, but the thought that comes to mind for every high school senior is the Candidate’s National Reply Date. This is the date by which a senior must choose a college to which she will enroll in the fall, and to many this causes a great deal of stress. I was lucky in my ability to make a decision quickly, but I heard the moans of others as they struggled to decide. Some of them had to do with choosing between similar schools in terms of academic caliber, some had to do with financial aid, and others based their decisions on extracurricular choices. But in the end, everyone knew that there was one, and only one college to which they could send that fateful deposit.

Which college? This sent out another flurry of visiting campuses and talking to students, similar to the process they had undergone a year before, but there was a subtle change that made all the difference. They were admitted students. They weren’t judging whether the school would be a good place to consider, they were judging whether the school would be where they wanted to spend the next four years of their lives. It added a whole new dimension to the process of visiting that made everything seem more exciting, as well as a not small boost to the ego. But there was also a sense of urgency, and for many, disappointment.

For people like me, who didn’t get into their top choice, the decision process was fraught with bitterness. I was thrilled to get into my second choice, but the edge of my excitement was dulled by the other rejection. It also filled me, and others, with a drive for vengeance. The work we had put into our applications was the least of what we had done for high school, and to get where we are. And the colleges hardly had a sense of who were as people, and had hoped they would find out, if we enrolled. But we made our decisions in the end, whether it was the classes we liked most, or were best able to afford it, or because it had the most attractive boys. And when the time came to send a response to all the colleges to which we had been accepted but would not enroll, we had power in our hands. We were the ones making the selection now, and judging THEM. And we would accept just one, and reject many. And for the vindictive of us, we would check the box marked “No” where it asked “Will you enroll in the fall”, and in the space next to it where it asked “Where are you going and why?” We would write, “Because we don’t like YOU!”

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